SCV Talk · Archive
Nine years of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
SCV Talk
January 21, 2011· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Something not right here

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

I get beat up a lot here on SCVTalk for my full-throated advocacy of alternative transportation and for pointing out how ludicrous it is to rant and complain about traffic while we sit alone behind the wheel of our car. “Traffic is you and you are traffic,” I like to say.

And the readers groan.

I don’t want to play victim but it affects me. Usually I take my licks, wander off, kick my bike tires and mumble to myself that there has to be a better way and that you all just don’t get it. I shut up for a little while -inside I’m hurting- and keep the whole alternative-transportation-for-the-SCV pot on warm simmer in the back burner of my mind until the next time I get the courage to bring it to boil.

This is the way of the idealist, and I’m cool with it. I know you are too that’s why you keep reading (thank you).

And then I read something like this on Facebook, by the chairman of an SCV no/slow-growth group touting 600+ members, that just sets me off:

Drones?

Drones?

Come again? You who get in your car alone every day and file -lemming like- on the 5 South out of town with 50,000 of your neighbors? You who get in your car to drive to the mailbox? To go to the mall? To fight over parking spaces at Trader Joe’s? You have the guts to call us who take the bus, ride the train, or defy the odds and mount our bicycles mindless drones?

No baby. FAIL. We are the counter-culture. You are the drones! You are the ones enslaving yourself to big oil, to ever-increasing monthly gas bills, insurance payments, car loans, vehicle accessories, car washes, DMV fees, parking costs, satellite radio payments, and horrible, bloody, mind-numbing, rage-inducing, never-ending traffic congestion.

Not me. YOU.

We are the ones who sacrifice personal space & time (in the case of bus or train) and speed (in the case of bicycling) to take one more car off the street, to remove one more tailpipe’s emissions from the air and to free up one more spot at the Walmart’s ocean-sized lot. All of this for you. And for me. Because we care and we’re not selfish.

You’re welcome.

And then to top it all off, you have the gall to come here, or to Facebook, or to the Signal and complain that you had to sit too long at a red light in Canyon Country? You have the gall to complain about the OVOV plan even as it’s going to take resources away from people like me (bike lanes) and give them to people like you, just so you won’t complain about traffic?

Argh! It’s too much! I had to vent. The pot has boiled over.

I’ll be in the garage kicking my bike tires and mumbling to myself if anyone needs me.

Comments (20)

  1. cashJanuary 21, 2011 at 10:12 am
    One for thing, if all the fees we pay to drive a vehicle were eliminated, because we all decided to ride a bike, bike riding would no longer remain a freebie.
  2. Keith AdairJanuary 21, 2011 at 10:17 am
    Thanks Jeff. I’m right with you. I always thought that anti-bike crusaders were the funniest kind. Their attacks always sound like barely-concealed guilt for not getting on their own bike and thereby improving the SCV. @cash Wanna run that by me again? I have no idea what you’re trying to say here.
  3. ReaderMamaJanuary 21, 2011 at 3:20 pm
    I think what he’s saying is if everyone bought a bike and rode it instead of driving a car, license fees for riders and bikes would be instituted to make up for the revenue lost in license fees for cars and drivers.
  4. HermanJanuary 21, 2011 at 3:26 pm
    Not to mention the taxes collected on gas.
  5. spineflower2January 21, 2011 at 10:33 am
    I got a different flavor from the use of the term “drone.” I think it was implying that theplanners think that bike riders are drones, not the author of the post. It seemed like a slam at the City folks, not the riders themselves.
  6. KLBJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:05 am
    Speaking of waiting too long at a red light, the stupid red light at the end of my street took 4 minutes to turn green yesterday. I love the idea of driving to the mailbox. I should have done it when I lived four doors down from our communal mailboxes. What a drag it was having to walk that distance to get my mail. Hey, when are we going to hear all about the new puppy and see pix?
  7. NickelDimeJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:13 am
    KLB: LA Public Works, who does most of that type of work on behalf of the City, is extremely good about responding to signal timing requests/complaints.
  8. JeffJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:16 am
    What you need to do is turn into the 7-Eleven parking lot, drive over by the chicken place, then turn left onto lyons. If it’s early enough it’s an easy left turn and will save you 3-4 minutes at that light. Hell, I do it on my bike all the time!
  9. KLBJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:44 am
    Jeff ~ We’re over on Whispering Leaves now, just east(?) of Sierra Highway. I usually catch the train at the Via Princessa station, so not a problem. I just make a right at Sierra Highway. But sometimes, like yesterday, I take the train from Newhall and have to make a left on to Sierra Highway and that’s where the problem is. That is the most jacked up light. The left turn arrow for people traveling south(?) on Sierra Highway to Whispering Leaves cycled twice while I sat there yesterday waiting for my green light. It makes the light at Apple and Lyons seem not so bad. Thanks for the tip, ND. I will contact them.
  10. SFC PerezJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:38 am
    You said mount! giggle giggle
  11. NateJanuary 21, 2011 at 11:43 am
    I take the commuter bus because… 1. I hate traffic. 2. I like to nap 3. It is cheaper. 4. I can use my ipad (read, listen to music, play angry birds) 5. I can read the daily brief and poke fun at all my favorite people I don’t see the appeal of driving. The commuter buses are nice with cup holders and reclining seats.
  12. navigatorJanuary 21, 2011 at 12:17 pm
    All right! I admit it. I’m a clone! Now I’m going out to sit in my nice warm car and pout.
  13. KLBJanuary 21, 2011 at 1:01 pm
    I love my car and not being a slave to public transportation’s schedule. I love public transportation when it’s done right. Our offices used to be located in Beverly Hills. My only option for public transportation was the bus. The commuter bus could get me close to my office, but it still required a trip on a local bus to get me to my office. The commuter bus schedule was too restrictive (no afternoon service), so I drove. In 2008, our offices moved to downtown LA. I now take Metrolink to work. Once I get to Union Station, I have the option of the Red Line which drops me off two blocks from my office or taking the company supplied free shuttle that drops me off in front of my building. I almost always take the Santa Clarita commuter bus home in the evening because it picks up behind my building, the scheduling in the evening is way better than Metrolink, it drops me off at the train station, and I’m usually home a half hour sooner than if I took the train. And my Metrolink pass gets me on the bus for free. The point being, I have way more public transportation options now and it’s crazy convenient. If public transportation was THIS good and convenient everywhere, I’d hardly ever use my car.
  14. JeffJanuary 21, 2011 at 1:07 pm
    Yeah transit options to the west side SUCK! We need a high speed rail line down the 405 all the way to LAX and then Long Beach to have any hope in the future. In comparison, commuting to Downtown LA, Glendale, or Burbank is a breeze. The commuter bus to the west valley is pretty good too, though its schedule is pretty restrictive.
  15. spineflower2January 21, 2011 at 3:09 pm
    Yeah, that’s why I couldn’t make it work. It meant upwards of 2-hour travel time, doubling my already too-long commute. Bummer.
  16. ScottEJanuary 21, 2011 at 2:37 pm
    Switched last weekend from two sub-20mpg premium using hogs to two 51mpg regular using Prius IIs. I’m in a Prius state of mind #gigglingattheHummersastheygobyme
  17. NickelDimeJanuary 21, 2011 at 3:03 pm
    NICE! Welcome to the club! 50+ mpg is addictive. #nevergoingback
  18. ReaderMamaJanuary 21, 2011 at 3:31 pm
    Telecommuting beats any other kind of commuting by a mile. There really is no need for a lot of people to physically transport themselves to an office on a daily basis.
  19. KLBJanuary 21, 2011 at 3:33 pm
    Yeah, tell that to my boss.
  20. CCJanuary 21, 2011 at 5:51 pm
    I tried to look into taking public transportation to the LA Art Fair at the Convention Center and maybe a trip to the Wurstkutch. But just to get to the convention center I had to change twice and the estimated time was 2 1/2 hours one way with no ability to get to the restaurant. So I decided to hop into my giant SUV and take a 20 minute drive while listening to FreeBird and seated on my comfy heated seats. While I like the idea of public transportation, it simply isn’t practical for mwa. Kudos to the rest of you helmet heads for freeing up more lanes. BTW, I heard a report recently that the Chinese are giving up their bikes for cars. Go figure.

Preserved as part of the SCV Talk Archive. Text is presented as originally published; presentation has been standardised for readability. The original capture is available at the Internet Archive.

Support